Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Today is the start of new two-week long challenge at All That Scraps where we have a sketch for you. Here is Swiss Pixie Laying Nora with some butterflies dreaming of the spring weather coming...

I used four butterflies cut from the smaller CC Cutters Butterflies Die set. Layered two together, distressed them, added some shimmer around the edges and sparkly gems in the center. Here's a close-up of one...
Stop by the ATS challenge blog to see what the DT has created, and we would love to have you play along! Some things to remember when playing along:

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy Monday everyone! Was your weekend filled with happy memories? On Saturday, our family certainly had two big events to celebrate... my son passed his karate test for his Jr. Black Belt! and my wonderful hubby's big 50th birthday! We had a big celebration at home with family and friends, and just ate all night! I always forget to take pictures of the food, but we had prime rib, cioppino, bun rieu (a vietnamese noodle soup), with plenty of sides and desserts! A mini buffet right at home!

So this week's challenge at Lollipop Crafts is an easy one... ANYTHING GOES! Head on over to the blog to see some awesome eye candy! A traditional custom is to present your Sensei with a thank you gift at the belt award ceremony. This is the card my son wanted me to make for his Sensei...

Very simple layout. Karate Ian colored in his Sensei gi's colors, red cardstock stamped with "thanks" as the background, and "Arigato" cutout is from Jenny!

Cameron started this journey when he was in kindergarten, and throughout all these years (he's only 11), he continued to climb each step and grow along the way, to finally reach this amazing achievement! His Sensei says he is the youngest of the dojo to obtain a Jr. Black Belt. We are so very proud of him! I decorated a couple of chipboards with the same image, colored it to represent his gi and new belt, and a congrats sign for his favorite cake... OREOS!!!

Let me just say that this past month, he trained so hard in order to pass this test, I was so stressed out just watching him train. When Saturday morning came, I think I was more nervous than he was! The testing didn't start until 2pm, so the wait was just agonizing! I'm so glad that he performed so well, and I can see the determination in his face during the whole TWO HOURS!

Okay... that's enough for me today. I will share the other celebration we had on Saturday night on another post! Head over to Lollipop Crafts to see more of the DT wonderful inspiration, and hope you can join the fun!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Tracey Malnofski's resume reads like a who's who of the Stamping Industry. Besides being the owner and a designer for The Stamping Boutique, she's also a stamp artist for Unity Stamp Company and has also worked for InStyle Stamps, Squigglefly, and The Digi Shack. She's a professional artist and an active member of the Artist' Guild in her community.Tracey has quite a busy household with a husband, 3 teenagers, 5 mini-dachshunds and an Appaloosa mare. It's noisy, but she loves them all.Her "Boutique" has it all - fairytale, whimsy, sentimental . . . and Candy! Here's what Tracey says about her Stamping Boutique. "The Stamping Boutique" is dedicated to quality products and original artwork. We not only provide wonderful digital images in our store, but also several lines of red rubber images. Our designers are chosen for their character and personality, as well as, their beautiful designs. We work hard to give you our very best. Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor this week.

TSB was very generous to let the team ink up some cute digis. Do you ever wonder how fairies dry their fairy outfit? Well, take a look here...

Isn't that the cutest laundry line you've ever seen??? You can find this digi image here, and a few other laundry lines too! I tried a couple new techniques today... first the glitter on the wings and the fairy dust bag are done with this technique shared by JayJay. Then I finally tried the cloud masking technique for the background... it's been soooooo long since I first saw this technique, I forgot who has a tutorial on it. I'm sure one or two will pop up if you "google" it. ;D

from the Sweet November collections, designed by Amy Young. The pair is breathing in the fresh spring air and just enjoying each other's friendship! The papers today are from K&Company Amy Butler designer pad... am lovin' the greens and blues, plus there's purple and pink!

Stop by ATS Challenge blog to find out all the deets to this week's challenge, and hope to see you link up for your chance at winning an awesome prize! While you're there, check out the new March releases, which are all available at the ATS store!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Hello Friends! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a fabulous dinner on Friday night, and spent the entire evening with my family... all 30 of us!

Friday, March 16, 2012

March is always a busy month of birthdays... there's a few wonderful friends, four family members, plus my dear husband, and ME (today)! I don't see it as a day to celebrate me, but rather a day to spend with family & friends and have a good time together! and it gives me a reason to eat more dessert than I should! LOL!

Anyways, it was a blast to celebrate Kris' birthday blog hop. Hope you all had a chance to see all the beautiful cards made! So today, I will have a little surprise for one random commenter on this post. Tell me what's your favorite way to celebrate your birthday! The lucky winner will be picked on Sunday March 18th!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

It's Krista Palakiko's birthday today and a few of us are throwing her a surprise birthday blog hop. If you've come here from Christy's blog then you are on the right path, but if you just popped in you might want to hop on over to the beginning at the Lollipop Crafts blog. Why? Well one lucky hopper will win a SURPRISE PRIZE! All you need to do is hop along to each friend’s blog, leave some love, then head back to the Lollipop Crafts blogand let them know you completed the hop. Who knows maybe along the way some of Kris' friends might be giving away RAKS of their own, so make sure you stop and give some love to everyone. The winner will be announced on Sunday, March 18th.

For Kris' card, the image is TGF's HG Sing (retired stamp). I know how much Kris love the TGF cuties, and can't you just imagine our wonderful friend holding a ukelele and singing some fun songs! Kris, you always bring so much happiness and love to others, so today you deserve to be treated like a princess! Big HUGS to you!!

Ok... continue along the hop and be sure to stop by Kris' blog to leave her some birthday wishes!

including myself. hehee! Tracy (our awesome leader) wanted to save this for the reminder post next week, but nah... I'll just make another card using another cute March release for that! :D

Now that I look at it more, it's a pretty CAS layout. Followed the sketch from Ribbon Carousel Challenge, added a doily, some ribbons, and butterflies die cuts from CC Designs. oh... and lots of sparkles from my bottles of Stickles! ;p

So take a peek here... and hope you'll link up to play along this fun and easy challenge!

This is one of their adorable digi set, Wonderland, that has five images to play with! I picked to work the RED as my splash of color, great for the mushrooms and the heart of Alice's dress. Added some very light shadow colors on the images too. There are a few layers too, but forgot to take a picture to show that - maybe if you click on the image to enlarge, you can see a little bit of it.

Okay... now get on the LC blog to see more gorgeous cards from the team, and link up to play for your chance to win a fabulous prize from our sponsor!

Meljen's Designs is a lovely stamp company owned and illustrated by Melissa Jenkins. She illustrates whimsical digital images inspired by her kids and family. The Meljen's Designs store officially launched on April 1 and is steadily growing! Meljen's Designs has new releases along with a new challenge every Thursday, freebies every Monday and a Guest Designer each month at the Meljen's Designs Blog. Please visit the Meljen's Designs line of stamps at the WHIMSY STAMPS STORE to browse and enjoy Melissa's wonderful images!

Now onto my card...

Turtle's Little Star is an adorable sea turtle that can bring brighten up anyone's day! He has a little friend on his shell... and both just having fun just riding the waves! These beautiful tropical papers are from BoBunny Mango Luau... can you just feel the tropical breeze and hear the ocean waves??? lol! can you tell I wanna be in Hawaii!

Please stop by the LC blog to see more of eye candy from the A-Team, and join in our current challenge! Winner this week will have their choice of 4 digis from our sponsor!